There are those who believe that as we move from Genesis 2:3 to 2:4 that we are entering new material, written by a different author, giving us another, somewhat different account of creation. Among them are the editors of the NRSV (our pew Bible) for there you will see the heading, “Another account of Creation.” Do me a favor and scratch that out in your mind. Because it is not another account, chapter one and two are all one account. But here the account is brought into sharper focus. The lens is zeroing in on one particular aspect of creation.

The primary problem is with verse 4. The NRSV has put a space in the middle of verse 4 making the first part of the verse a conclusion of chapter one. It’s not. It is rather a statement that tells us that the story is moving on, that further detail is going to be given. We should not read it as, “And so these were the generations.” But rather, “Now let me tell you about the generations of the heavens and the earth.” This is the formula that the author uses throughout the book. Turn to 5:1, 6:9, 10:1, 11:10, 11:27 – 11 times in all. It is a literary cue that tells us to hang on, to fasten our seatbelts because we are going deeper the drama of life is continuing.

One of the primary arguments of thinking this is another account of creation is that a different name for God is used in 2:4 than in 1:1. There you will remember that the name for God is Elohim. Here the name for God is Yahweh. But again this does not signify 2 different accounts. It does however sharpen our focus on the character of God. Elohim you will remember denotes God’s power, it speaks of God’s majesty and sovereignty. And it is appropriate to refer to God this way for He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

Now the author says, "let me introduce you to another aspect of God. He is Yahweh - that’s the personal name for God." The name that tells of His involvement in history, His provision for mankind and He is the one who makes covenant promises with His people. So he is saying something about God here. Not only is God the sovereign ruler of creation – in chapter 1 He is. In chapter 2 Yahweh is the God who stoops to the earth, covering it with beauty and tenderly caringly providing for the humanity he has created.

So it’s not another story of creation that is given here. Rather it is a continuation a focusing of the first story so we can fall deeply in love with God who provides for all our needs. So chapter 2 is by no means a contradiction to chapter 1 but rather it focuses our attention on God’s loving care for humanity.

Scripture: Genesis 2

Our God is a good God who provides for all our needs. From His hand we receive all that is necessary for life to the full. That’s the overarching truth of chapter 2. We are shown all that God provides – He provides life – He breathes into the nostrils of humankind (verse 7); He provides beauty and food (verse 9); He provides meaningful work (verses 15 and 19); He provides companionship, the marriage relationship in verses 21 and following.

And it is on this last point that I want us to focus and think about this morning as we continue with our theme of connecting with God, specifically, connecting with God in marriage. Let me begin by saying that sometimes it is not easy to have a relationship with God and be married. This is what Paul says in I Corinthians 7:32

“An unmarried man is concerned about he Lord’s affairs – how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about eh affairs of this world – how he can please his wife – and his interests are divided.”

Paul goes on to say the same about unmarried women and married women, their interests are divided.

Paul is saying that if you are single, then praise God! For you are free to give undivided attention to the Lord’s work. The church has often been guilty of making singles feel like second class citizens. Instead we should encourage those who are single, for God has given them the avenue to give their time, attention, concentration to the Lord’s work.

But for those who are married it is difficult - not impossible, but difficult because we have to consider the other. We have to keep in mind our family. We need to be conscious not only of the Lord’s work but also the needs of our family.

Alongside this idea we need to realize too that marriage is a gift. God said, "it is not good for man to be alone … I will make him a helper as his partner.” (Verse 18). Marriage is a gift given by God. So if marriage is a gift from God, yet it is difficult to serve God when married, what kind of gift is it? And the answer is that it remains a wonderful gift as long as God is at the center of the relationship. It is difficult, but it is not impossible to serve God and be married. In fact I believe that God has designed the family, the marriage relationship with the intention of reflecting His character - a point that Paul makes in Ephesians 5, which we will look at a little later.

But do you remember how we learned last week that to be made in God’s image is to be created in God’s moral image? That image became marred, but Christ, the image of the invisible God, came to restore that image in you and in me. So, now for those of us in the faith when people look at you, when people look at me, they should be able to see what God is like.

And I believe this is true of the marriage relationship. The two who have been made in the image of God come together and become one flesh. When people look at a Christian marriage they should be able to see a reflection of the character of God. Our children should be able to grow up in a confusing and difficult world, come home, close the door behind them and look at their parents and say that’s what’s real - that’s what’s true - that’s what God is like.

So marriage was designed to show what God is like. It is no mistake that Scripture uses marriage as an image again and again to depict God’s relationship with his people. The earthly marriage was designed by God to give the world a picture of what God is like.

How so? How is the marriage to reflect God? Just two ways this morning – first the godly marriage is designed to express love. God says, "It is not good for man to be alone." Why? What is wrong with being alone? I like being alone - I would rather be alone than with people. So why is it not good for people to be alone? Because we have been designed, created in God’s image who always gives and expresses His love. We were designed to express love to others.

Let me explain. The text says in verse 7 that when man was created, God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. That can mean many things but don’t you think it fair to say that it means that not only did God enable man to breath in and out physically but that God at that point poured into man HIS life, HIS joy, HIS character, HIS peace, HIS love? And all that God is was poured into man. And I can imagine Adam coming alive and saying who can I love? Who can I give my joy too? I am bubbling over with the life of God. God, you have made me in your image and just as you are a God who cares and loves I want to express that love.

And so God causes all the animals to pass before Adam and sure Adam finds some affinity with some of the animals. He’s able to pet the dog and play fetch and he’s able to have the cat sit on his lap but no matter what animal lovers will tell you, there isn’t that deep connection, there isn’t that communication that exists between individuals. And it says in verse 20 that no suitable helper was found as a partner for Adam. God knew that, but Adam needed to discover it. There was no one for Adam to express his love.

And so God created woman and Adam says in verse 23, “At last!” or as some translate those words, “WOW, look at that!” Here is one who is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, someone to whom I can give love.

This is the heart of the marriage relationship it is the giving of love.

For the Christian this is true of all relationships, it is not just for our marriage relationship. We seek to reflect the image of God in all our relationships, we seek to give what we have received from God. We forgive as we have been forgiven. We give the comfort that we ourselves have received from God (2 Corinthians 1:4). That’s why we are part of the church and come to worship. It is not necessarily to receive but to give. We come together to give praise to God, we come to give support and encouragement and service to one another – this is what it means to be made in the image of God. We seek to give.

God has said it is not good for us to be alone because He has created us in His image and even as God gives and gives so we are meant to give. And this is true of the marriage relationship.

Understand this - we do not seek to be married to get love but we seek to be married to give love. It is because we are alive with love and excitement and joy and the life of God and we’ve got something to give away!

This is diametrically opposed to the way of the world that says we are in relationship in order to get. Listen to the love songs on the radio – they are all self centered, I, I, I. Let’s have a little Karaoke –

“I can’t smile without you,

I can’t smile without you,

I can’t laugh and I can’t sing

I’m finding it hard to do anything

You see I feel sad when you’re sad

I feel glad when you’re glad

If you only knew what I’m going through

I just can’t smile without you."

In the world it’s all about how I need love - me, me, me. But for the Christian, those created in the image of God it is I have love to give away.

I can’t stress this enough because even in the church we sometimes get this wrong. Lots of people want to know who is going to be the head of the house? Who is the one who has the power in the house? And really that is not a question that a Christian asks. If you were to ask Jesus that question He would say – "Do you want to know who the head of the house is to be? It’s the one who is the servant. Do you want to know who is first in the house? It’s the one who is last."

Yes - men, you have responsibility for the physical and spiritual care of your household - that is your scriptural role. But don’t confuse that with dominance, power and dictatorship. We read in Ephesians 5, “Husbands love your wives as Christ love the church.” How did Christ love the church? By taking a towel and washing the feet of the disciples. By going to the cross and dying to self so that we can have life. That is how the husband is to relate to his wife.

Hold on, you say, what about our passage – it says that the woman is a helper to the man (verse 18 and 20). Surely that refers to one being superior to the other. Be careful. Be sure to read your Bible carefully if you do you’ll discover the word helper occurs 21 times in the OT and on 15 of those occasions it refers to God helping man in one or the other. Is God subordinate or inferior to man because He is man’s helper? No.

The NRSV has it right when it translates the word "helper" it goes on to say, “As His partner” verse 18 and again in verse 20.

But still someone might ask what about that part in Ephesians 5 where it says “Wives submit to your husbands”? And I say, in all seriousness, there’s nothing wrong with that, it is right and true but be sure to read all of Ephesians 5. Some men read verse 22 to 24 where it speaks of wives submitting but fail to go on to read the part where it says that husbands are to love your wives just as Christ loved the church. If you read the whole passage you will see that Paul makes the very point that I am stressing here – Christian marriage is designed for giving. Wives submit to your husbands and husbands love your wives. Christian marriage is not about who is going to be boss but who will give up the most for the other.

How can we reflect God in our marriages? By expressing, giving love to one another.

Here is the second way – we reflect God in our marriage by being committed

A godly marriage is one in which two people share the same commitments. Listen, young people - more important than being physically attracted to one another, more important than his ability to make you laugh; more important than her ability to brighten up your day – is the fact that you share the same commitments. So many Christian girls settle for a guy who does not share the same commitments not realizing that when the romance is gone they have nothing left. Of course the primary commitment should be the commitment to Christ.

Please do not come to me and ask me to officiate at your wedding if you plan to marry a non-Christian because I won’t do it. I did it once early in my pastoral life and I regret it to this day. Be sure you share the same commitments.

Then be sure to be committed to one another. When we do this we are demonstrating the reality of God who remains committed to us, who never leaves us or forsakes us. Verse 24 is the found for this commitment. A man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife and they become one flesh. This speaks of commitment. Gary Smalley has a book entitled “Love is a Decision.” And he’s absolutely right - love is not the same as romance. Love is commitment where we say, “God you have given me this person and I will remain committed to them. Because you remain committed to me."

The story is told of Robert McQuilken who served as president of Columbia Bible College for a number of years with distinction. It had always been his childhood dream, and when he was there he felt a sense of affirmation and a powerful call from God. He served with distinction and prepared hundreds of young people for Christian service.

Then one day this very special man realized he had a tragedy on his hands. His wife began to show the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. This was no slow-moving case, and in a matter of months there were dramatic consequences. She not only lost the memory of much of their life together, but she was unable to even recognize him. She lost all awareness that he was her husband.

Robertson McQuilken made his decision. He resigned the presidency of Columbia so he could give full-time care to his wife. Without hesitation he walked away form his calling as an act of love for her.

There were realists who told him there was no point to what he was doing. Anybody could take care of his poor wife, they told him, but not anybody could be president to Columbia Bible College. And after all, she didn’t even recognize him when he came into the room to help her.

Then there were pious critics who brought up the fact that he was walking away from a calling from God. He was letting his personal concern for his wife interfere with his service to the Lord, they said.

The man’s answers were magnificent. To the realists he readily admitted that his wife didn’t know who he was. But that wasn’t the point, he told them. The really important thing was that he still knew who she was and further more, he let them know that he recognized in her now-forgetful self the same lovely woman he had married those many years ago.

Then he turned to the pious critics, his words to them were even more profound: “there is only one thing more important than a calling and that is a promise. And I promised to be there for her until death do us part." ¹

My friends, that’s what it means to connect with God in marriage – it is to reflect His self-giving love, it is to reflect His commitment to you and to me, to the one He has given us, tenderly, compassionately until death do us part.

With dependence upon Him may He make your home a reflection of His image.

1. Tony Campolo, Carpe Diem, Word Publishing, US, 1994. Page 179